Page 119 of Where Dark Hearts Devour
“You did?” I whisper.
He shrugs. “Yeah, as well as anyone can look after a feathered corpse. I found a box in my grandfather’s boat shed, and I gave it a proper burial service.”
I can’t help my smile. “Really?”
“I’d just helped you perform extremely intense keyhole surgery under highly pressurized conditions—I was pretty invested by that point.”
His expression is so earnest it squeezes my heart, then my smile fades.
“I’m so sorry about Mama ...”
“Don’t be.” He wraps his hands around mine. “She was trying to protect you. And she did—for a long, long time. I’m grateful to her.”
“But you ...” I rub my eyes. “You hadn’t done anything wrong.” I gaze at him, my eyelids heavy. I’ve just taken in a mountain of information in a small space of time. A lot of death and a lot of violence.
“You need to rest,” he says before I can suggest it myself. “We can talk more later.”
He doesn’t wait for a response. Instead he stands, turns to my family, and announces they’re all to leave me alone for a few hours.
He places my hand back onto the bedsheets and trails his fingers along the top. “Rest, Trilby. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
I don’t appreciate being told what to do, but right now, I’ll gladly surrender to his instructions. I let my eyelids flutter closed and listen to the slow, methodical beeps of the heart monitor as I drift into a dreamless sleep.
Trilby
I lay on the hospital bed with my eyes closed, listening to the bleeps of the monitors. It all feels a bit extreme really. I’ve been here for ten days now and I’m pretty certain the poison is out of my system.
The Dolls Eye poison that is.
There’s a whole different kind of poison running through my veins now.
Savero has gone. Dead. I’m no longer engaged. Papa has his port back. Everything has gone back to how it was before, except nothing feels the same.
Like a brain that has been put through serious trauma, I’m changed.
Sera, Tess and Bambi have visited daily with news of how the scandal of Savero’s deceit and subsequent murder has spread all the way from New York to Chicago. Poison is the coward’s weapon in the Cosa Nostra. And though it hasn’t yetbeen proven, everyone suspects Savero killed his own father, the revered don, Gianni. For that reason, he’s been put six feet underground without so much as a sidelong glance from a priest.
Allegra has popped in to bring me an array of delicious cannoli that I’m not allowed to eat. Papa is the only one who’s had to stay away because the port had to be untangled from all the deals Savero had set up.
Apart from the aforementioned metamorphosis, I feel pretty good; the doctors are pleased with my progress. I should have been discharged by now.
Butsomeonewon’t let me leave.
And that someone is leaning up against the doorframe watching me ‘sleep.’
I refuse to open my eyes because I don’t think I can look into his.
Two days ago, while I was ‘sleeping,’ he confessed he’s finally agreed to fulfil his father’s wish and assume the role of don. Someone called Augie is his new underboss and Nicolò’s loyalty has been rewarded with a new job out in Vegas, running a sizeable casino business.
Cristiano is now the don of the Di Santo crime family.
“I know you’re awake.” His voice slips beneath the sheets and slides across my skin making me feverish. “You’ve been awake for six days.”
FML.
“When are you going to acknowledge me?”
I lift a finger.
